Contents

History

In the medieval period, Iberian Muslims who had come under
Christian rule as a result of the Reconquista, who were also known as
Mudejars, had been tolerated on the peninsula, although
treated as inferiors by Christian authorities. In the early 1500s,
this policy of toleration gradually began to change.

After the fall of Granada
in 1492, under the Treaty of
Granada, the government granted the Muslim population the same
sort of toleration with discrimination which had traditionally been
extended by medieval Spanish rulers. That promise was short-lived.
When peaceful conversion efforts on the part of Granada's first
archbishop, Hernando de Talavera, brought subversive opposition, Cardinal
Cisneros took stronger measures: forcing conversions, burning Islamic
texts, and prosecuting some of Granada's Muslims. In response
to these and other violations of the treaty, Granada's Muslim
population rebelled in 1499. The revolt, which lasted until early
1501, gave the Spanish authorities an excuse to void the remaining
terms of the treaty.

In 1501, Spanish authorities delivered an ultimatum to Granada's
Muslims: they could either convert to Christianity or leave. Most
did convert, but often only superficially. Many continued to dress
in their traditional fashion, speak Arabic, and some secretly
practiced Islam. Many used the
aljamiado
writing system, i.e., Castilian or Aragonese texts in Arabic writing with scattered Arabic
expressions. In 1502, Queen Isabella formally rescinded toleration
of Islam for the entire crown of Castile. In 1508, Castilian
authorities banned traditional Moorish clothing. With the
absorption of Navarre into the crown of Castile in 1512, the
Muslims of Navarre were ordered to convert or leave by 1515.
However, Ferdinand, as King of Aragon, continued to tolerate the
large Muslim population living in his territory. Since the crown of
Aragon was juridically independent of Castile, their policies
towards Muslims could and did differ in this period.

Historians have suggested that the crown of Aragon was inclined
to tolerate Islam in its realm because the landed nobility there
depended on the cheap, plentiful labor of Muslim vassals.[2] But,
the landed elite's exploitation of Aragon's Muslims exacerbated
class resentments. In the 1520s, when Valencian artisans rebelled
against the local nobility in the Revolt of the Brotherhoods,
the rebels "saw that the simplest way to destroy the power of the
nobles in the countryside would be to free their vassals, and this
they did by baptizing them." [3] The
Inquisition and monarchy decided to prohibit the forcibly baptized
Muslims of Valencia from returning to Islam.

In the last step, Charles V issued a decree compelling all
Muslims in the crown of Aragon to convert to Catholicism or leave
Spain by the end of January 1526. Thus through the threat of
expulsion, many Muslims of Spain became Moriscos.

Until the reign of Philip II, Moriscos were seldom
subject to prosecution by the Inquisition. By contrast, judaizing
conversos were more often prosecuted in
this period. Some Moriscos rose to positions of wealth and
prominence and wielded influence in society. Moreover, Aragonese
and Valencian nobles in particular were interested in keeping their
Morisco vassals under personal control; they tried to protect them
from Inquisitorial prosecution by advocating patience and religious
instruction. However, in 1567 Philip II changed tack. He directed
Moriscos to give up their Muslim names and traditional Muslim
dress, and prohibited their speaking Arabic. In addition, their children
were to be educated by Christian priests. In reaction, there was a
Morisco uprising in the Alpujarras from 1568 to 1571.

Spies reported that the Ottoman Emperor Selim II was planning to attack Malta and from there move on to
Spain. They said he wanted to incite an uprising among Spanish
Moriscos. In addition, "some four thousand Turks and Berbers had
come into Spain to fight alongside the insurgents in the
Alpujarras," [5] which
was an obvious military threat. After the government defeated the
rebels, they expelled some 80,000 Moriscos from Granada. Most
settled elsewhere in Castile. The Alpujarras uprising hardened the
attitude of the monarchy, for "the excesses committed on both sides
were without equal in the experience of contemporaries; it was the
most savage war to be fought in Europe that century."[6] As a
consequence, the Inquisition's prosecution of Moriscos increased
after the uprising.

Huguenot
support

French Huguenots were
in contact with the Moriscos in plans against Spain in the
1570s.[7] Around
1575, plans were made for a combined attack of Aragonese Moriscos
and Huguenots from Béarn
under Henri de Navarre against Spanish Aragon, in agreement with the
king of Algiers and the Ottoman Empire,
but these projects foundered with the arrival of John of Austria
in Aragon and the disarmement of the Moriscos.[8][9] In
1576, a three-pronged fleet from Istanbul was planned to disembark between Murcia and Valencia while
the French Huguenots would invade from the north and the Moriscos
accomplish their uprising, but the Ottoman fleet failed to
arrive.[8]

Toward the end of the 16th century, Morisco writers challenged
the perception that their culture was alien to Spain. Their
literary works expressed early Spanish history in which
Arabic-speaking Spaniards played a positive role. Chief among such
works is Miguel de Luna's Verdadera
historia del rey don Rodrigo (c. 1545-1615).

At the instigation of the Duke of Lerma and the Viceroy of Valencia, Archbishop Juan de Ribera,
Philip
IIIexpelled the moriscos from
Spain between 1609 (Valencia) and 1614 (Castile).[10] They
were ordered to depart "under the pain of death and confiscation,
without trial or sentence... to take with them no money, bullion,
jewels or bills of exchange... just what they could carry."[11]
Estimates for the number expelled in this second wave have varied,
although contemporary accounts set the number at around 300,000
(about 4% of the Spanish population). The majority were expelled
from the Crown of Aragon (modern day Aragon, Catalonia and
Valencia). In contrast, the majority in the first wave were
expelled from Andalusia
shortly after the events of 1492.[12][13] Some
historians have blamed the subsequent economic collapse of the
Spanish Mediterranean on the attempted replacement of morisco
workers by Christian newcomers. Not only were there fewer of the
new laborers, but they were not as familiar with the local
techniques.

Adult moriscos were often assumed to be covert Muslims (i.e. crypto-Muslims), but the arrangements for
expulsion of their children presented Catholic Spain with a dilemma. As the children
had all been baptized, the government could not legally or morally
transport them to Muslim lands. Some authorities proposed that
children should be forcibly separated from their parents, but sheer
numbers showed this to be impractical. Consequently, the official
destination of the expellees was generally stated to be France (more specifically Marseille). After the
assassination of Henry IV in 1610, about 150,000
moriscos went there.[14][15]. Most
of the moriscos then migrated to North Africa, leaving only about
40,000 to settle permanently in France.[16][17].

Those moriscos who wished to remain Catholic were generally able
to find new homes in Italy (especially Livorno). The overwhelming majority of the
refugees settled in Muslim-held lands, mostly in the Ottoman Empire
(Algeria and Tunisia) or Morocco.

"During the reign of Sultan Saadian ech Sheikh Mohammed
(1554-1557), the Turkish danger was felt on the eastern borders of
Morocco and the sovereign, even though a hero of the holy war
against Christians, showed a great political realism by becoming an
ally of the King of Spain, still the champion of Christianity.
Everything changed from 1609, when King Philip III of Spain decided
to expel the moriscos which, numbering about three hundred
thousand, were Muslims who had remained Christian. Rebels, always
ready to rise, they vigorously refused to convert and formed a
state within a state. The danger was that with the Turkish pressing
from the east, the Spanish authorities, who saw in them [the
moriscos] a "potential danger", decided to expel them, mainly to
Morocco…."

Based at mainly northern towns of North Africa, some Morisco men
fought as corsairs
against Christians. Some Morisco mercenaries (in the service of the
Moroccan sultan), armed with European-style guns, crossed the
Sahara and conquered Timbuktu and the Niger Curve in 1591. A Morisco
worked as military advisor for Sultan Al-Ashraf Tumanbay II of Egypt (the last Egyptian Mamluk Sultan) during his struggle against the
Ottoman invasion in 1517 led by Sultan Selim I. The Morisco military advisor suggested
that Sultan Tomanbey use men armed with guns instead of depending
mainly on cavalries. Arabic sources recorded that Moriscos of
Tunisia, Libya and Egypt joined Ottoman armies. Many Moriscos of
Egypt joined the army in the time of Muhammad Ali of Egypt.

Numerous Moriscos remained in Spain, living among the Christian
population. Some stayed on for genuine religious reasons, some for
merely economic reasons. It is estimated that in the kingdom of
Granada alone, between 10,000 and 15,000 Moriscos remained after
the general expulsion of 1609.[19]
Scholars have suggested that the Mercheros (also Quinquis),
a group of nomadic tinkerers traditionally based in the northern
half of Spain, may have had their origin among surviving
Moriscos.

In
literature

Miguel de Cervantes' writings, such
as Don
Quixote and Conversation of the Two Dogs, offered
interesting views of Moriscos and put them in a favorable light. In
the first part of Don Quixote (before the expulsion), a
Morisco translates a found document containing the Arabic "history"
that Cervantes is merely "publishing". In the second part, after
the expulsion, Ricote is a Morisco and a good
mate of Sancho
Panza. He cares more about money than religion, and left for
Germany, from where he returned as a false pilgrim to unbury his
treasure. He however admits the righteousness of their expulsion.
His daughter María Félix is brought to Berbery but suffers since
she is a sincere Christian.

Extended
meaning

In historical studies of minoritisation, morisco is sometimes
applied to other historical crypto-Muslims, in
places such as Norman
Sicily, 9th-century Crete, and other areas along the medieval
Christian-Muslim frontier.

In the racial classification of colonial Spanish America,
morisco was used as a term for the child of a mulatto and Spaniard.

Morisco
descendants and Spanish citizenship

In October 2006, the AndalusianParliament asked the three parliamentary
groups that form the majority to support an amendment that would
ease the way for morisco descendants to gain Spanish citizenship.
The proposal was originally made by IULV-CA, the Andalusian branch
of the United Left.[20]
Spanish Civil Code Art. 22.1, in its current form, provides
concessions to nationals of the Ibero-American
countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, and
Portugal as well as to the descendants of Sephardic Jews
expelled by Spain. It allows them to seek citizenship after two
years rather than the customary ten years required for residence in
Spain.[21]

Since 1992 some Spanish and Moroccan historians and academics
have been demanding equitable treatment for moriscos similar to
that offered to Sephardic Jews. The bid was welcomed by Mansur
Escudero, the chairman of Islamic Council of Spain.[23]

A recent DNA study by the University of Leeds (2008) of the Y
chromosome among the current population of Iberia (i.e. Spain and
Portugal) suggests that 11% of Iberian males have traces of Moorish
ancestry.[24]. The
study has come under criticism since the Sephardic result is in
contradiction [25][26][27] or
not replicated in all the body of genetic studies done in Iberia
and has been later questioned by the authors themselves [28][29][30][31] and
questioned by Stephen Oppenheimer who estimate
that much earlier migrations, 5,000 to 10,000 years ago from the
Eastern Mediterranean might also have accounted for the Sephardic
estimates. "They are really assuming that they are looking at this
migration of Jewish immigrants, but the same lineages could have
been introduced in the Neolithic"[32]. The
rest of genetic studies done in Spain estimate the Moorish
contribution ranging from 2.5/3.4%[33] to
7.7%[34].